utmost importance that he should thoroughly discover what the plans
they were cherishing were, he must not occasion the slightest
suspicion that they were watched by a miner.

He hurried on, feeling his way along the walls of rock. Had he not
been very courageous, he must have been very anxious, for he could
not but know that if he lost his way it would be the most difficult
thing in the world to find it again. Morning would bring no light
into these regions; and towards him least of all, who was known as
a special rhymester and persecutor, could goblins be expected to
exercise courtesy. Well might he wish that he had brought his lamp
and tinder-box with him, of which he had not thought when he crept
so eagerly after the goblins! He wished it all the more when,
after a while, he found his way blocked up, and could get no
farther. It was of no use to turn back, for he had not the least
idea where he had begun to go wrong. Mechanically, however, he
kept feeling about the walls that hemmed him in. His hand came
upon a place where a tiny stream of water was running down the face
of the rock. 'What a stupid I am!' he said to himself. 'I am
actually at the end of my journey! And there are the goblins
coming back to fetch their things!' he added, as the red glimmer of
their torches appeared at the end of the long avenue that led up to
the cave. In a moment he had thrown himself on the floor, and
wriggled backwards through the hole. The floor on the other side
was several feet lower, which made it easier to get back. It was
all he could do to lift the largest stone he had taken out of the
hole, but he did manage to shove it in again. He sat down on the
ore-heap and thought.

He was pretty sure that the latter plan of the goblins was to